At which stage of designing a new website do you start to think about colour? Is it after you’ve picked the domain name and secured your hosting or way before?

Wherever colour choices feature in your own web design schedules, one thing’s for sure – colour matters.

One study found that the colour of a website can impact all sorts of factors, from the length of time a visitor spends on a site to how well they retain the information they have garnered from that site.

Of course, every designer has days when they lack inspiration.

So in this article, we’ll look at five ways you can pep up your colour palette game in 2021.

Get on trend

Every year Pantone picks a ‘colour of the year’. Its experts are said to ‘comb the world’ looking at new colour influences in order to find a colour that they feel will embody the spirit of the year.

The 2021 Colour of the Year is actually a twin set - PANTONE 17-5104 Ultimate Gray + PANTONE 13-0647 Illuminating. The former colour is a soft grey, they latter is a gentle yellow.

Pantone says: “Two independent colours that highlight how different elements come together to support one another, best express the mood for Pantone Color of the Year 2021.

“Practical and rock solid but at the same time warming and optimistic, the union is one of strength and positivity. It is a story of colour that encapsulates deeper feelings of thoughtfulness with the promise of something sunny and friendly.”

You can follow Pantone’s colour insights and forecast on its website.

Have a mooch around Insta

Instagram is an Alladin’s Cave when it comes to colour palette inspiration. Take a look at ocean.ui, which features a rolling collection of palettes with names like Merlot and Sundae, and the.colour.lab, which takes palette inspiration from everything from the sunrise to the colours of a robin.

Look in on mr.pugo for what he calls a ‘daily dose of colour inspiration’ and swing by the colours cafe, which often does seasonal round ups of colour palettes.

Take inspiration from the macro

It’s thought that there are around 18 decillion colours in the world – that’s 18 followed by 33 zeros. Yes - 18,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000

While colour inspiration can be taken from micro things like objects and animals, it can also be taken from more macro subjects.

Sovereign Holidays recently produced a collection of colour palettes inspired by the colourscapes of 20 countries of the world, for example.

The collection includes an England palette that’s inspired by places like The White Cliffs of Dover and Big Ben, and a USA palette that’s inspired by landmarks such as The Golden Gate Bridge and The White House.

So next time you’re having a little designer’s block, it may be worth zooming out a little and training your lens on a bigger picture.

Time hop

Whereas earlier we suggested that staying on top of global colour trends is a great way to stay on your colour palette A game, it can also help to look to the past for inspiration.

Unable to hop in a DeLorean?

Visit the Colour Leap website, which has created a collection of colour palettes inspired by eras in history.

On the site, you can find colour palettes inspired by everything from Egyptian times – palettes with names lole Sarcophogas and Prophecy – to the 1900s – palettes with names such as Showman and Afternoon Stroll.

Take a punt

Visit the website coolors and you can have a play around with a fun colour palette generator tool.

Not got time for games?

The website has other great functionality. For example, you can upload a photo and it will extract the colour palette from it.

Once you’ve picked your palette, you can export it in multiple forms ir simply copy its URL to share it. Use your name

This may not always come up with the best results, but it’s fun all the same.

Head to the website Synasthesia.me to see your name brought to life as a colour palette.

The website belongs to Brenadette, who experiences a form of synasthesia that often makes her see letters and numbers a colours.

If nothing else, the website will make you think about colour in an entirely new way.

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